If you do the best you can,
nothing else matters worth a damn.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Italian Pukulan Knife
Check out the Italian-made pukulan knife commissioned by silat player Michele De Lorenzi. He wanted a heavy blade, so it is pretty thick, and this one is in stainless steel. Nice toy.
I know little of knives, but it looks like the hand is going to slide down the blade at the first significant impact. ( It may be that you just have bear-paw hands. )
I don't know enough about the history of short blades to say for sure, but I expect it was a form-follows-function thing depending on what it was designed to do.
Long blades, swords and such, had guards mostly to protect the user's hands from opponents' blades, and some were designed as slashers and others as stabbers.
Short knives weren't primary weapons, and more were designed for utility than fighting. If you are slicing, the impact aspects of stabbing are apt to be less. Fighting knives like the Black/Bowie had guards because they were apt to be used for sticking as well as hacking, against somebody with a blade attacking or defending.
The pukulan design is probably based on a utility knife used for work. It can be made to work for close-in fighting, and if slashing, the main movement is a draw, from base to tip, so the hand is less likely to slip, given the handle design.The teardrop-shape of the handle keeps it from sliding backward as you draw.
In an icepick grip, you can also wrap your thumb over the butt with a short handle, or your little finger if you use a saber grip. Common with folders and short handled knives.
With a sharp enough point and edge and a good grip, sticking isn't going to mean an automatic slip -- you don't aim for hard targets, but for soft ones that won't really offer much resistance. And the leather wrap helps, as does the little indentation at the base of the cutting edge.
Not ideal as a weapon, but if its what you have when you are in the field, you have to make do. Like those Okinawan rices flail and the ubiquitous staves.
(Next time you get a big boneless beef or pork roast and before you cook it, give it a stab or thrust with a sharp tactical folder or a good sheath knife. There's almost no resistance.)
Check out the Italian-made pukulan knife commissioned by silat player Michele De Lorenzi. He wanted a heavy blade, so it is pretty thick, and this one is in stainless steel. Nice toy.
NICE!
ReplyDeleteI know little of knives, but it looks like the hand is going to slide down the blade at the first significant impact. ( It may be that you just have bear-paw hands. )
ReplyDeleteI don't know enough about the history of short blades to say for sure, but I expect it was a form-follows-function thing depending on what it was designed to do.
ReplyDeleteLong blades, swords and such, had guards mostly to protect the user's hands from opponents' blades, and some were designed as slashers and others as stabbers.
Short knives weren't primary weapons, and more were designed for utility than fighting. If you are slicing, the impact aspects of stabbing are apt to be less. Fighting knives like the Black/Bowie had guards because they were apt to be used for sticking as well as hacking, against somebody with a blade attacking or defending.
The pukulan design is probably based on a utility knife used for work. It can be made to work for close-in fighting, and if slashing, the main movement is a draw, from base to tip, so the hand is less likely to slip, given the handle design.The teardrop-shape of the handle keeps it from sliding backward as you draw.
In an icepick grip, you can also wrap your thumb over the butt with a short handle, or your little finger if you use a saber grip. Common with folders and short handled knives.
With a sharp enough point and edge and a good grip, sticking isn't going to mean an automatic slip -- you don't aim for hard targets, but for soft ones that won't really offer much resistance. And the leather wrap helps, as does the little indentation at the base of the cutting edge.
Not ideal as a weapon, but if its what you have when you are in the field, you have to make do. Like those Okinawan rices flail and the ubiquitous staves.
(Next time you get a big boneless beef or pork roast and before you cook it, give it a stab or thrust with a sharp tactical folder or a good sheath knife. There's almost no resistance.)
What makes it a pukulan knife?
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about stabbing a roast or pork reminded me of a vid I saw recently.
ReplyDeleteI do not train with this fellow but his demo is quite interesting and at the end of it, he shows how effective an edged weapon is against flesh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWmRWjDhYw
Edwin --
ReplyDeleteThe Italian knife is a copy of Steve Rollert's pukulan knife, so that's why it's called that.
Rollert is or was a silat guy, so that's where he came up with the name, I expect.